Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley (20 January 1972-), born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, was the Governor of South Carolina from 12 January 2011, succeeding Mark Sanford.

Biography
Nikki Haley was born on 20 January 1972 in Bamberg, South Carolina to a family of Sikh Indians who immigrated to the United States in 1969. Randhawa later married South Carolina National Guard member Michael Haley and used her middle name "Nikki" (meaning "little one") as her new name, "Nikki Haley". Haley converted to Protestantism when she married her husband, although she went to both gurdwaras and church. She worked with her mother at her ladies' clothing store, and in 1998 she became a member of the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce. In 2004 she was elected as a member of the state House of Representatives, being the first Indian-American to hold office in the state. Haley repeatedly voted against abortion, and she was a strong pro-life believer. On 12 January 2011 she was elected Governor of South Carolina, the third non-white person to be elected as the governor of a southern state after L. Douglas Wilder and Bobby Jindal, although she identified as "white" on her 2001 voter registration card. During her tenure as Governor, the state went through the issue of dealing with the controversy over flying Confederate States of America flags, a controversy that became even worse after the 17 June 2015 Charleston church shooting. In 2016, Haley announced that people should want Marco Rubio to be president if they wanted their families to be happy, and she was considered to be a possible Republican Vice-President if a Republican won the nomination.